There is a need to periodically monitor the health of motors and machines in order to accurately predict and schedule maintenance (or replacement) while minimizing cost and industrial production down time. Millions of industrial motors are periodically monitored today with a handheld or wired piezo accelerometer sensing device. It is estimated that the annual cost of monitoring these motors is around $300 per motor per year.
Ultrasonic vibration sensing has focused on methods in which one of the ultrasonic transducers is fixed to the vibrating surface. High frequency and relatively expensive ultrasonic transducers are used. These systems may require on-site calibration and may not consider practical aspects of deployment such as heat conduction from the vibrating surface which may prevent the transducer from operating correctly.
Other features of the present embodiments will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.